New troll scam: Pay us $495 or face felony charges and jail time

In reality, private organizations in the US can't charge anyone with felonies.

An organization calling itself the "Internet Copyright Law Enforcement Agency" (ICLEA) recently sent out a batch of copyright infringement notices. One letter reproduced online states that "if this matter is not settled by Friday, March 1, 2013 then you may face serious potential criminal and/or civil charges filed against you. If you are arrested for felony criminal copyright infringement you will be fingerprinted, photographed, and held in jail until you are arraigned in court." Recipients have been asked to pay various amounts, such as $395 or $495.

Needless to say, this is a scam. Under US law, only the government can indict defendants or throw them in jail. And the scammers seem to have realized that they made a big mistake, as their website now states, "Effective immediately, the Internet Copyright Law Enforcement Agency has ceased operations. Please disregard any notices you received from us, and please do not send us any payments."

But as a screenshot captured by Fight Copyright Trolls shows, that's not what the website used to say. Previously, the ICLEA claimed to be "an international organization that helps to enforce copyright laws on the Internet worldwide by informing potential copyright law violators regarding the serious criminal and/or civil liability they may face, and providing them with an opportunity to help them comply with copyright laws."

Posts about the ICLEA's notices began appearing on the Internet around February 19. The notices reportedly arrived by certified mail. Interestingly, at least one poster acknowledged that she had in fact downloaded the music in question, suggesting that the scammers had collected real file-sharing data and connected it to peoples' real names and physical addresses. It's unclear how they managed to obtain the information.

Presumably, whoever was behind the scam is now trying to minimize the fallout and cover their tracks. One Fight Copyright Trolls commenter reports that he got an e-mail from the scammers on Friday morning telling him to disregard past notices and promising not to bother him again. The culprit used anonymizing services to preserve his anonymity, but if law enforcement takes an interest in the case they may be able to compel the relevant intermediaries, including the domain registrar and Web host, to divulge information that could lead back to the source.

Timothy B. Lee / Timothy covers tech policy for Ars, with a particular focus on patent and copyright law, privacy, free speech, and open government. His writing has appeared in Slate, Reason, Wired, and the New York Times.